Mayor Slay Considering Lawsuit Over Firefighter Residency

By Chad Garrison on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 8:41 am

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Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Last week, Governor Jay Nixon signed a bill into law allowing St. Louis firefighters to live outside the city.

State senator Jim Lembke's (R - St. Louis County) SB 739 allows firefighters to move outside city limits after seven years of service if the city schools are unaccredited, which they are.

But in his blog last week, Mayor Francis Slay argued that only city residents -- not Jefferson City politicians -- can change the city charter.

The only people in the state with the legal (and moral) authority to change the City's employee residency rules are the voters of the City of St. Louis...Employees of the City of St. Louis have all accepted the residency rule as a condition of employment. SB739 purports to give some of them the chance to break that contract. The next steps will be serious.

This morning on KMOX, Slay's chief of staff Jeff Rainford suggested that a lawsuit will be forthcoming.

In 2005, St. Louis police board voted to allow cops to live outside city limits following seven years of service.